Method of preparing barium aluminate



Patented. Mays, 1945 Francis J. Williams, Port Washington, N. Y., as-

signor to National Lead Company, New York; N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing.

Application October 24, 1941,

Serial No. 416,375

4 Claims. (01. 23-52) a tion rate, it has been observed that the ultimate The present invention relates to the preparation of barium aluminates. 'It has particular reference to methods for the preparationof barium aluminates which involve the thermal decomposition of barium sulfate.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple and efficient method for the production of barium aluminates Another object of the invention is to produce by thermal decomposition of barium sulfate, barium aluminates which'are substantially free from residual sulfur compounds of barium A third is to provide a method for the production of barium aluminates by reactions in the solid state. A- 'iourth object of the invention is to produce barium aluminates in less time than has heretofore 7 been possible. Theseand' other objects of the invention will become apparent from this description thereof.

The prior art has indicated that if alumina, or an aluminum salt which on heating produces alumina, is mixed in the correct proportions with barium carbonate or barium oxide, and this mixture furnaced at a suflicient temperature for a suflicient length of time, that'tribarlum aluminate. would result. It haslalso been pointed out that the addition of alumina to barium sulfate reduced the temperature at which. it was possible to decompose barium sulfate. However, mixtures of barium sulfate and alumina, when'furv.naced,'will yield a productwhich is in part composed of a barium aluminate but which in addition also contains considerable residual barium sulfate. V

Theories with respect to reactions in the solid state say that the rate of reaction is inversely proportional to the radius squared of the parti cles being heated in contact. It should then follow that a reduction of the particle size of the component material 'in the furnace mix should .result in an increased rate of reaction. Appareffect is to retard thereaction." If the furnace charge were to be kept fluid throughout the entire furnacing operation and discharged from the furnace asa fluid mass, it should be possible t0 eliminate completely the sulfur from the mix and produce a product consisting essentially of bar- I 'ium aluminate. -This operation has two serious disadvantages. A molten charge originating from a batch containing barium sulfate and alumina isextremely corrosive toward refractory materials, particularly when the barium content is high. In addition, the system BaO-AlzOz is completely solid at temperatures above 1600 C. sothat it would be necessary to operate at a temperature higher than this.

A further technique which has beenproposed is the addition of a reducing agent, such as carbon, to the mixture of bariumsulfate and alumine. The 'behavior of such a reducing agent I may be illustrated by the following equations:

ently, this is essentially true in the early stages of the heating. However, with a decrease in Particle size, produced by additional grinding of the batch bi barium sulfate and alumina, the 380-.

tion rate falls on considerably from that which would be expected by theory and the barium-ml fate content of the resultant product may be as great or greater thanthat obtained without this additional grinding. V An increase in the temperature of furnacing should also increase the reaction rate. In this.

particular reaction, however. an increase in temperature is not advisable. Barium sulfate melts at about 1580 C. and, while the presenceof a liquid phase may momentarily increase the resthard to remove since in the presence of also: it

3BaO+AlaOs=BasAlsOo 6B8SO4+3C+2-203=2B83A120+3CO2+6SO2 This series of reactions is theoretically correct,

but due to mechanical difliculties, a complete elimination of sulfur is'not possible, A mixture of'barium sulfate and barium sulfide will produce an eutectic liquid ata temperature of about 1410 C. Thisliquid phase tends to reduce the porosity-of the mix and stops the sulfur-elimination as mentioned above. At 1500" C. such a mixture will melt sumciently to stick to the furnace walls and on continued heating the liquid phase diminishes in quantity until the charge freezeson the furnace walls. The final product is contaminated with either barium sulfate or barium suliide or both, depending on the. amount of carbon used in the batch as well as on the furnace atmosphere. The barium sulfide is particularly forms barium thio-aluminates. These are obiectionable in the product, since on hydrolysis they yield hydrosen sulfide. v

In the commercial production ofbarium alu- 'minates, it is economically feasible to use native barite ore and native bauxite ore as the sources,

'respectively. of barium sulfate and alumina.

'Both of these native ores contain impurities, chief of which are ferric oxide and silica. While the presence of these impurities is not detrimental in sulfur content of the finished product for many of the proposed asvavrc uses of barium aluminates, they are apt to be- I detrimental in the production of the aluminates.

These impurities have the effect, at elevated.

temperatures, of producing a liquid phaseby lowering the eutectic temperature of the system and thus preventing the reaction from going to substantial completion,. as previously described. These above mentioned diiliculties may explain why barium aluminates have not been produced commercially to 4 any great extent prior to this invention.

In its broadest aspect this invention contemplates the production of barium aluminates by heating a barium sulfate material withan aluminum oxide material under oxidizing conditions until the barium sulfate content of the mixture is materially, diminished, thereafter continuing the heating under reducing conditions until the the mixture is substantially completely eliminated. The term barium sulfate into a furnace maintained at e-temper ture below 14oo c. and that a satisfactory initial oxidizing heating may be effected by slowly raising excess of air over that necessary for combustion of the fuel employedlwill give-an oxidizing condition. Thisis evidenced by thepresenceofox'ya the temperature to about 1400 C.,' and when this temperature has been reached, changing thejconditions from oxidizing'to mildly reducing. a When employing small batches it is preferable to carry out the oxidizing'h'eatingto decrease the, barium sulfate content of the charge .to below about 40%,

preferably between about and 30% before changing to reducing conditions. The use ofan gen in the gaseous products of combustion. The

,,presence of carbon monoxide and the absence of oxygen in the gaseous products of combustion inmaterial" as herein used is meant to include not only barium sulfate as such, "for. instance, blanc fixe, but also native forms of this 4 material, for example, barytes, barite, etc. The expression .aluminum oxide material is" meant to include not only aluminum oxide, but materials such-as dicate a reducing condition, the severity of which is a function of the amount of carbon monoxide present. If, during the initial heating, a reducing condition exists, barium sulfide will be formed and a hard, 'sintered mass will result. It will not be possible by continued heatingto eliminate the 1 sulfur from this hard,,sintered mass. Ifat this point, heating under ,an oxidizing condition is continued, the barium sulfate content of the charge will not be appreciably decreased and at bauxite andaluminum hydrate which, on heatin yieldaluminum oxide.

, According to the invention, an intimate mixture of a barium sulfate material; e. g., barite and aluminum oxide material, e. g., bauxite, in predetermined portions to yield a barium aluminate of desired ratio of 39.0 to A1203 reduced to a fineness of, say, /100 mesh, is introduced into a suitable furnace either in dry 'or wetcondition.

the end of 4 to 10 hours at about 1500-.C. the product will containfrom 10% to 8Q,% barium sulfate. 11, however, at the end of l' hour at about 1500 C. the furnace atmosphere is changedto reducing, the sulfur elimination is markedly increased. A reducing condition at "about 1500 C.

forfrom 1 to 3hours will lower the barium sulfate content of the furnacechargeto from 1% Following the introduction into the suitable furnace this mixture is then heated under oxidizing conditions at a temperature sufliciehtly high to bring-about the formation of barium aluminate with the elimination of sulfur dioxide until only a minor portion of the barium sulfate, 1. -e.,- an

to 4%. The times indicated here are by way of illustration, but the important considerations necessary are the barium sulfate content and the Y severity of the reducing action of'the furnace 40 atmosphere. The reducing condition, should be amount less than half the entire charge, is present; The conditions'are then changed from'oxidizing to reducing and the heating continued until substantially all of the barium sulfate is eliminated, i. e., notover a'few percent of barium sulfate remainsintheflnalproduct.

"This invention makes possible the production of barium aluminates in a simple manner, circumv n i g the difllculties which have been mentioned. Anintimatemixture of barite and bauxe of about 100 mesh, is introduced into a furnace in J L a dry or wet condition. Any suitable furnace ca.-

Ipable cflwithstanding a temperature of 1550 C.

' its in proper proportions, reduced to a fineness 'will servefor the fm'nacingbDeIatiOm-but pref-y operated either continuously, if desired. and may beheated by the combustion of a suitable fuel such as coal, oil-or gas. If the operation is to be continuous, the type of kiln used in the manufacture Portland cement is employed. The charge I is heated to temperatures between about 1400 C; and about 1550" C. until the desired decrease in the bariumsulfate' content of the batch is efmetal. The duration or this initial heating un der oxidizing conditions and the resulting decrease in the barium sulfate content may be varied, de

pending; upon thesize of the batch being heated. When operating'with large commercial batches, asghereinafter described in Example. IV, it has been found that the charge may be introduced erably a rotary kiln is'used. A high aluminarefractory hasbeen found to be desirable as a fur.- nace lining material-.1 -This'rotary kiln may be mild until the-barium sulfate content of the charge has dropped below 20%. When the barium sulfate content is below 10% the -iv a strong-reducing atmosphere may be employed. ,Thistechnique assures the absence of a measurable amount of sulfide sulfur inthe charge at any time. The "reducing action of the furnace atmosphere must never be sufllcient to prcduce sulfide sulfur but rather to simply remove the oxygenindicated by thereacntion 'cnasowzAlio mnanoiisofissoi From the foregoing it will be seenthat when operating with furnaces fired by carbonaceous fuels such as coal, oiLgas and the lilie -the shift from oxidizing to reducing conditions-is easily obtained merely by limiting the amount of airo'r oxidizing' gas fed to the furnace with; the fuel'to insure combustion. Asjhas beenstated, oxidizing conditions will prevail when an excess. ofair over that required for complete combustion is intro- 'duced, which excess can-be found in the exhaust gases. when reducing conditions prevail in the furnace, :carbon monoxide producedby the a inmonoxide or alternatively, finely divided complete combustion of thefuelwill be "found in the exhaust gases. Naturally. the present inven- It will further be observed from the foregoing that the initial oxidizing heating should be con-- tinued until the barium sulfate content of the charge is decreased to a minor portion of the entire charge. During the initial period of the rep 3 This ore was ground to give a 2% residue on 100 mesh. These two materials were mixedin the proportion of 700 lbs. barite and 160 lbs.

, bauxite, as an aqueous slurry by agitating in a ducing-heating itis preferable that the reducing condition be rather mild in order to. avoid the formation of sulfide sulfur until the barium sulfate content has dropped to or less. By continuing the reducing treatment, it is possible to reduce the residual barium sulfate content of the barium aluminate produced according to the invention to less than 5%, generally between about 1% and 4%. This is a striking advance over prior art methods which produced barium aluminates, for instance, tribarium aluminates contaminated with considerably larger amounts well above 5% and frequently as much as of residualbarium sulfate.

When practicing the present invention the formation of the barium aluminate proceeds without liquefaction of the reaction mass. However, the products of the reaction areobtained as lumps larger in size than the particle of the reaction mixture, which indicates that sintering takes place during the formation of the barium aluminate.

The present invention is particularly adapted to the preparation of tribarium aluminate material which is of interest in the ceramic industry, in the treatment of water and as a source of soluble barium and alumina, for the preparation of barium salts and aluminates. When employing native forms of barium sulfateand aluminum oxide, for instance, barite and bauxite, these materials will contain impuritieswliich are chiefly iron oxide and silica. These impurities do not seriously aflect the operation of the present invention, and the proportions of barium sulfate material and aluminum oxide material may be determined without reference to these impurities on the basis of the respective content of BaO.

and A120: contained in these materials. Thus, according to the invention, barium aluminates may be prepared varying in ratio of 39.0 to Alz'O: from 1:1 to 6:1.

Th following example of a barium aluminate in which the ratio of BaO to A1203 was 3:1, is given by way of illustration, it being understood that the invention is not to be restricted to any specific temperatures or times of heating therein recited.

A sample of barite ore was used which analyzed as follows:

I Percent BaSOi 97.8 A1203 -Q. 0.1 F8203-- 0.9 SiOz 1.2

This barite was ground on a 325 mesh screen.

, loss on ignition 24.5

to give a 15% residue tank equipped with a suitable stirring device for 4 hours. The aqueous mixture was pan dried and lbs. of the .mix charged to a small rotary oil I fired furnace, lined-with a refractory material high in alumina. The furnace was rotated and.

heated and 1500 C. was reached in 3% hours under oxidizing conditions. The temperature and the oxidizing conditions were maintained for one hour at which time the conditions were adjusted tr. reducing. The reducing conditions were continued at the same temperature for an additional hour. The analysis of the product was asfollows:

Percent BaSOr 3.0 S10: 3.8 A: and FeaOa 21.8 BaO' 71.4

Products varying in ratio of BaO to A1203 from 1:1 to 6:1 have been prepared by this same method, as illustrated by the following examples:

Exauru: II

BaO:Al20a=6: 1

280 grams of barite and 32 grams of bauxite prepared from the same materials and in the same manner as those used in Example I, were mixed wet, filtered and dried and placed in a,

magnesium oxide crucible in an oil-fired pot furnace, heated to about 1500 C. in 3 hours under oxidizing conditions which were held for an additional hour. Reducing conditions were: then started and maintained at about 1500 C. for 36 hours. The product formed contained 2.9% barium sulfate.

Exmu: III

\ BaOtAJzOa=111 233 grams of barite and grams of bauxite prepared in the same manner of Example I were mixed wet, filtered and dried and then heated to about 1470 C. in 2% hours under oxidizing conditions and held under these conditions for an'additional hour. Reducing conditions were then started and maintained for 2 hours. The productformed contained 1.1% barium sulfate.

Barite and bauxite prepared from the same materials and in the same manner and in the same ratio as those used in Example I were mixed wet and dried on an external stream heated drum drier of the type commonly used in the chemical industries. Four tons of this dried batch were charged into an oil fired rotary Bruckner furnace equipped with a suitable refractory lining. This batch was charged into was charged so that the condition in contact with the batch was mildly reducing. Due to the magnitude of' the batch, this reducing efiect was extremely mild when-considering the batch in its entirety. This condition was maintained Analysis of the product Per Cent BaSOa 2.4 SlOa 4.4 F620: 4.5 A1203 17,0 mo 71.6

The foregoing description of the present invention has been given for, clearness of understanding. It is tobe understood that modifications within the skill of the art are to be included within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

material with ground aluminum oxide material in such proportions that for every one moi of available aluminum oxide, calculated as AlzOa, contained in the aluminum oxide material there will be present between one mol and six mols of available barium sulfate, calculated as BaSO4, contained in the barium sulfate material, heating said mixture in the absence of added carbonaceous material other than impurities at temperatures between about 140m C. and about 1550 0., maintaining oxidizing conditions throughout said mixture during the heating until the barium sulfate content thereof is decreamed to a minor portion of the mixture then 1. Method of preparing barium aluminate which comprises heating a mixture consisting essentially of a barium sulfate material and an aluminum oxide material and containing no added carbonaceous material other than impurities at temperatures between about 1400" C. and about 1550? (3., maintaining oxidizing conditions throughout said mixture during the heating until the barium sulfate content thereof is decreased to a minor portion of the mixture, then changing the conditions from, oxidizing to reducing and continuing the heating within the said temperature range until the bearing sulfate is substantially completely eliminated.

2. Method of preparing barium aluminate which comprises heating a mixture consisting essentially of barite-and bauxite and containing the barium sulfate content is decreased to below changing the conditions from oxidizing to reducing and continuing the heating within the said temperature range until the barium sulfate is substantially completely eliminated.

4. Method of preparing tribarium aluminate which comprises mixing ground barite with ground bauxite in such proportions that for every mol of aluminum oxide, calculated as A1203, contained in the bauxite there will be present about three mols of barium sulfate, calculated as BaSOr, in the barite, heating said mixture in the absence of added carbonaceous material other than impurities at temperatures. between about 1400 C. and about 1550" C., maintaining oxidizing conditions throughout said mixture during the heating until the barium sulfate content thereof is decreased to below about 40% of the mixture, then changing the conditions from oxidizing to reducing and continuing the heating within the said temperature range until runners J. H

about. 5%. 

